The Dunlop Commission’s Premise: A Tilted Playing Field?

This paper examines the premise that the "playing field" is tilted against labor, making union organizing and the exercise of collective voice difficult. There is broad agreement that the union organizing process is unnecessarily contentious, while nonunion labor relations is overly litigious and subject to costly regulation. Workers want both an effective voice in the workplace and a cooperative relationship with management, a combination realized in too few workplaces. Many of the changes recommended by the Dunlop Commission head us in a desirable direction. Although their recommendations would strengthen union organizing, the union sector will remain a small portion of the private sector labor force. Commission recommendations would do little to facilitate improvements in workplace communication, employee involvement, and labor-management cooperation in the large and growing nonunion sectors of the economy. A likely scenario is that we continue on our current path, one with a decreased role for collective bargaining, heavy reliance on government regulation and litigation, and an unfulfilled desire on the part of workers to have greater voice and cooperation in the workplace. This paper was presented at the Symposium, "The Dunlop Commission Report on the Future of WorkerManagement Relations," Washington, D.C., April 21, 1995. The author appreciates helpful suggestions from Jack Fiorito and Bruce Kaufman.